Friday 6 October 2023

Don't fear, God will save you

"If the LORD had not been on our side when people attacked us, 3 then they would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger against us. 4 Then the water would have engulfed us; the torrent would have swept over us; 5 the raging water would have swept over us."    Psalm 124:2-5   CSB

Some people have trouble after trouble; sickness after sickness, when others seem to have nothing like this happen to them. You may say, it is the luck of the draw. However, there is no luck in the kingdom of heaven, it is called faith. Many people go through great testing times and I believe it is because God has great things for them to do. If they can handle the flak, they are more likely to be able to stand against what comes their way. That doesn't mean that the others are not chosen for great tasks; it is how you measure what is great and don't forget, God knows our hearts and therefore can tell who will be useful on the front line, while the others form a defence. It is like a chess game, there are the ones who attack the opposite side and there are others who do the defending.

Whether you are an attacker or a defender, you will have to be able to stand on faith when the going gets tough. This is why David encourages us all to remember the victories you have had in the past; those times when you felt you would faint but, at the last minute God turned up and changed the situation. If the Israelites had not have had the faith to cross the Red Sea, Pharaoh's army would have slaughtered them or, they would have drowned in the raging waters.

With God, there is always a way out. You may feel trapped by overwhelming odds, but, with God there is always an escape route. You have nothing to fear. What you're facing at this time may feel really scary, but remember how He helped you before, He'll do it again. You're too precious for Him to ignore! No problem is beyond His reach and He will make a way where there is no way if He has to.

You will see; and when you're through this obstacle, you will have another testimony of what God did for you. Praise Him for this fact and for the knowledge, that you will be able to help someone else in similar situation in the future.

Lord Jesus, I have sinned and I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today.

In Jesus' Name. Amen


Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                 

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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Thursday 5 October 2023

The heart of compassion God has for us

"Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat and live forever. 23 So the LORD God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken"  Genesis 3:22-24.  CSB 

I am sure that you are all aware of how Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of life in the middle of the garden. The results were disastrous, bringing sin into the world for all mankind eternally. God was annoyed but, I think more disappointed and sad than anything. But, the thing is with God, He always has another plan and will always have one.
As dismayed as He was, we see this loving God, making clothes out of skins for Adam and Eve. He cared that they were naked and may be cold as they left the garden. This shows how loving and kind He is. This young couple had no life skills, so their Father made them what they would need. This gives us a glimpse of who we belong to, who we worship and love. 

God was sending them out into the world to make their own way. They could have lived in the garden forever but if they ate from the tree of life again, in their sinful state, they would have brought upon themselves a state of eternal condemnation, forever trying to hide away from God. God really did them a favour here; and as heartbreaking for God as it was, He had to let them go.

This is the way God feels about us on a daily basis. He loves us so much, that His heart breaks when we commit any kind of sin. Yes, He is disappointed but He is more upset. Our eternal freedom, cost Him His one and only Son - Jesus. Max Lucardo says: 'God would give up His only son before He'd give up on you.' Every time we sin reminds God of what He gave up on our behalf.

All the more why we need to have a grateful attitude. God could wipe us off the planet in a blink of an eye. Yet, He loves us so much, He gives us another and another chance. This is what He did for Adam and Eve, Are they in heaven now? Yes, I believe so. Just the fact that God was so loving towards them and didn't punish them there and then, proves - to me, that they are in heaven.

And one day, you will see them and all the other heroes of the Word, David, Elijah, Peter and many, many others. It will be a party to beat all parties when we are together. But, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus until then.

Lord Jesus, I have sinned and I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today.

In Jesus' Name. Amen


Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                 

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

Why not order my Daily Commentary from Amazon - Paperback or Kindle  

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Wednesday 4 October 2023

You need a day off

"On the seventh day God had completed His work that He had done, and He rested."             
                                                                                    Genesis 2:2.  CSB 

God rested on this, the seventh day, which was about to be known as the Sabbath. He did this to give us a model to adhere to. If God needed to take a day off then you definitely do! He wants us to enjoy all He has provided for us. We live in an action-packed, stress-filled world, one in which we meet competition and huge challenges. There's always something that needs doing and very little time to do it in, let alone find time to rest. Notice what Jesus demonstrated when He and His disciples got in a boat to get away from the crowds Mark 6:31-32. 

We need time for our family, our hobbies and for ourselves; yet trying to take a day off seems one of the hardest things to do at times. We get people ringing us with a problem and we feel that we should drop everything and attend to them. If we don't we begin to feel guilty that we haven't helped them. Work wants us to go in and work on a project that needs to be finished by the end of the day. If we turn this request down, we worry that we may lose our job or the promotion that we have been after.

Let me tell you something from experience, the person who rang you for urgent help, will find that help elsewhere if you can't make it. They will survive. Your work place will find another way to reach this urgent deadline; they too will survive and they will understand you need time off, but if they don't they're not worth working for anyway. Relax, everyone is entitled to at least one day off a week. If you don't make the use of some free time now, you may live to regret it later on.

You are one person. As we've seen, God, who is mighty and powerful, needed some time to relax and see His handiwork, so do you. Let's not view this wrong though, God didn't need to rest; He wasn't tired or worn out like we get. No way, Hosea. God was writing a blue print for us to work by; an action plan which included all the things that we would encounter in our earthly life: work, leisure, family, healthy life style, exercise -all these things and more and we need to take notice of what He is saying to us.

Many people reach the end of their life with regret. They wish they had spent more time with family, with their hobbies, holidays etc. We only have a certain time here on earth, so, ensure that you prioritise. Your family are precious, so honour them, no job is worth neglecting them. And this goes with your health too. Take care of yourself and relax when you can. There is so much more you can get out of your life if you think about it.

Lord Jesus, I have sinned and I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today.

In Jesus' Name. Amen


Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                 

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

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Tuesday 3 October 2023

Ensure you make the right choices

"The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash."    Matthew 7:27   CSB

This man had chosen the wrong foundation to build his house on. He chose sand instead of a rock and he paid the price for this, drastically. We have to live by the choices that we make and, sometimes, those choices are not good ones. This may be where you are at this moment. There are ways out of these choices but, they need to be thought through seriously so that it doesn't go wrong and you are in a worse state than you were before. The only sound way to do this is, with God's help and direction. Initially, you may have rushed in blind and now you're paying the price. Seek God's help and He will direct you to the right way Proverbs 3:5-6. 

There's a story that Tony Evans tells about the time he had a crack in the internal wall of his house. He had builders in time and again but the crack kept re-appearing. Finally, it was found that the problem was not with the wall but, a shifting foundation. The moral to this story is, don't address the symptom address the source. There may be symptoms indicating something is wrong but, where are they coming from; we need to find the source to address it properly.

How are you doing in the decisions you have made just lately? Have they worked out well or are there problems that don't seem to go away. What is the source? Have you borrowed so much money that it is getting impossible to pay it back? Go to the source and which is probably the bank and talk this through. In this day of high debts and problems caused by the pandemic, there is more understanding where loans are concerned. If you fail to do this, then you will have a major problem because the bank will move to recover that debt. Approach the source and negotiate.

You may have a sickness that has been giving you problems for quite a while. Don't you think you need to get this checked out while you can? You have the symptoms but you need to find the source but, you won't get it by reading medical books, checking the internet or listening to well-informed but unskilled people. Go and find the source.

There's a plumbing job in the house that needs attention and you know that you are not capable of doing it. But, to save money, you make the choice to 'give it a go' and attempt this yourself. After a while, you realise that you made a mistake by choosing to do this; the is very obvious because you are standing in three feet of water. What was a cheap and simple enough job to an expert has now turned in to a major task that will cost you quite a bit of money. Why, because you were not skilled enough to go to the source and trace the problem from there.

Good choices are dependable foundations and perhaps you need to remember this fact.

Lord Jesus, I have sinned and I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today.

In Jesus' Name. Amen


Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                 

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

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Monday 2 October 2023

Live a carefree life

"Do not fear for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am Your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand."  Isaiah 41:10   CSB

When are you going to grasp hold of the fact that Your Father - God, does not want you worrying, at all. Look at today's reading above; God is with us 24/7 - every hour, every day, every week and every year. If you really trust Him, what is there to worry about? Let's look at this:
FEAR   God very clearly assures us that He is with us, all the time. He never goes away. He may allow you to handle a certain thing that you're struggling with but, He will give you the knowledge and the power to do this. There is no need for fear.
AFRAID  Again, He mentions not being afraid because He is our God and will not allow you to suffer. You are in Covenant with Him, you signed a contract with Him by asking Jesus into your life. He counter-signed this, by shedding His blood on your behalf on the cross. The contract is binding.
STRENGTHEN   as you include Him in everything you do, He will give you the strength to be able to cope and handle all situations. He will not allow you to be bullied at school, Uni or at work. If you're in this situation, don't be tempted to handle the situation yourself, give it to Jesus; He will soon sort the bully out, but probably not the way you think it should be handled.
HELP YOU   You may have a lot on your plate, whether it be at work or at home. He wants to help you and, will if you ask Him to. He is your friend, this is why He loves to be with you. Friends help each other and He is the greatest friend you will ever have. Therefore, ask Him to help you.
HOLD ON TO YOU   I like this one. Whatever you find yourself involved in, He will hold on to you. Not because He has you chained up - not at all. He broke the chains off you when He died on the cross and you became born again. He holds on to you because you're precious and He doesn't want you getting lost in this sinful world. Think about it, whenever you are feeling lonely and lost, Jesus is holding on to you. 
HIS RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HAND   His hand, holds your hand. God's hand has hold of you, and He will continue to hold it for all of your life, until that day when you walk into His Throne Room in heaven. 

Therefore, there is a lot to be said about living a carefree life. There's no need to worry; Jesus told us not to in Matthew 6, and so, worry needs to be a thing of the past. God's intention is to be with you during your life time and then, to take you into His heaven. What's so worrying about that?


Lord Jesus, I have sinned and I ask you to forgive me and be my Lord and Saviour. Please come into my heart, fill me with Your Spirit and give me a brand new start today.

In Jesus' Name. Amen


Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                 

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com          

If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE

Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers

Why not order my Daily Commentary from Amazon - Paperback or Kindle  

Check it out

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Don't kick and struggle

"I will instruct you and show you the way to go;  with my eye on you, I will give counsel.  9 Do not be like a horse or mule,  without ...